Symptoms and Diagnosis

This entry is intended to provide you with an account of symptoms that alerted me that something was wrong and the progression of a diagnosis by our health care system.  It is somewhat long so grab a drink.

Early August there was a day at work where I experienced a sharp pain in my lower left side.  It was quite painful and I decided to go home at noon to lie down.  Pain was mostly gone by next day and I returned to work.  Decided to call the doctor's office anyway to ask them to book an annual checkup.  I was several months overdue and this was as good a time as any.  Appointment was booked for October 14th.  Busy office.

Life went on as usual.  The only symptoms I recall is feeling bloated much of the time and my belly was expanded somewhat.  Sometime early to mid August I recall that we played a round of golf at Puslinch and we walked the course.  It was a hot day, one of many this past summer, and I recall complaining about the heat.  Nothing out of the ordinary!

Most of the time I didn't have pain per se but I was bloated and gaseous.  I made the decision I was becoming intolerant to some sort of food item and made some effort to remove wheat from my diet to see if anything changed.  I studied up food intolerances and tried substituting for wheat. This went on for a number of days but nothing changed and I was getting larger and more uncomfortable.

On August 22nd we were scheduled to participate in a golf tournament.  By now I was experiencing heaviness in the lower belly, walking was painful and looked 4 or 5 months pregnant!   Oh joy.....There was no way I could do this even with a cart and I suddenly realized I needed to go to the doctor.  Of course, it was the weekend so I went to the clinic.  After some blood work, urine analysis, x-rays and physical examination they could not give me any diagnosis.  There appeared to be some heaviness in the pelvic area and it was probably because I was constipated.  I was given a prescription for some stool softener and an appointment for an ultrasound for August 31st, which was the next step.

We spent the following 5 days at Pat and Suzanne's cottage.  It was during this time that I really came to terms with my inability to walk very far.  We would go for walks and I would end up way behind of everyone and holding my belly.  I couldn't wait to sit down again.  Back pain began as well.

The ultrasound results were available very quickly and my own doctor called August 31st to tell me that there is a sizable tumour close to my ovaries.  She was very sorry to be delivering this news via the phone but thought that I would want to know.  She had also arranged for a CT Scan and appointment was set for September 3rd.  She also arranged an appointment at London Health Sciences Hospital with Dr. Monique Bertrand, Gynecological Oncologist upon the recommendation from the Grand River Cancer Centre.  Things started to happen very fast now.  Both David and I were stunned as you can imagine and quickly had to come to terms of what this meant.

On September 7th we met with Dr. Bertrand.  In her opinion, based on the results of all the diagnostic tests and her physical examination she was quite sure it was cancer.  In the back of our minds we were still hoping it was nothing but we knew.  However, to be 100% sure she requested a biopsy with a oncologist radiologist scheduled for September 17th in London.

She described the treatment plan for ovarian cancer which would begin as soon as possible.  Good news is that I can do this in Kitchener at the Grand River Hosp.  There would be 3 treatments of chemotherapy 3 weeks apart.  Then she will do surgery to remove as much as she can.  After this 3 more treatments to get rid of the remainder missed by surgery.

She didn't think there is one mass as originally thought but several smaller ones.  All in the area of the ovaries.  There was also a possibility of cancer on the peritoneum.  This is the lining of the abdomen.  Treatment is the same for both types of cancer.

This was all confirmed with the biopsy.

Physically, I felt fine as long as I was sitting.  My belly had expanded quite a bit because of something called ascites.  This fluid will reduce with chemotherapy.  My regular clothes do not fit around the waist.


Dr. Bertrand called me at work on September 22nd to discuss the results of the biospy.  She confirmed it was grade 3 ovarian and peritoneal cancer.  Next steps was to send all test results to Grand River Hospital who would get in touch with me for a preliminary meeting.

So on September 29th we met with Dr. Califaretti, oncologist  and my nurse coordinator, Pat to discuss my diagnosis and treatment plan in more detail.  They were wonderful and caring.  Any questions we had were encouraged and they were completely accommodating.  Appointment for first treatment was set for the very next day @ 8:30 am.  My journey is only beginning.......